This card did not start out as it finally looked. You know
when you're three quarters way through a card and you just turn around to pick
something up and then on returning you look at the card and think OH NO THAT'S
NOT GOING TO WORK! Well this was one of those moments.

So I put aside what I had done and carefully cut out all the
images I wanted, like the bottle. That had been given a light green water wash
and then using a high gloss gel, I in fact created a home made epoxy sticker.

When I tried to remove the topper from the card, as careful
as I was, it did tear. So this is where with some gold paper and a Martha
Stewart punch I managed to cover up what damage I had made. The rest of the area was covered up by using a larger topper
that was made from the inside of a cereal packet. I never throw them away, as
they are perfect for cutting out shapes using my Cricut and eCraft machine’s.

Right then, the bottle was originally made on the old card.
Carefully cutting it out, I then gave the edges a going over with an old make
up sponge and Black Soot Ink. This blended two sides and it covered up those
areas that were left white after cutting it out from the original topper. The flower was also cut out but this time I only used the
centre portion. This when I cut it out I snipped into the centre to give a look
of feathering. The Butterfly was also cut out and this time was edged in the
Black Soot Ink.

I had to now re-stamp the main flower. However this
time I had something to work with. The original time I stamped, I had to work
out where the bottle was in comparison to the flower stem and then mask etc. I
didn't have to worry about it now, as I just had to secure the bottle over the
stem and WHAM there you have it. Job done!

After I had stamped the flower and the butterfly in place, I had the chance to play with something new that has been delivered into my
crafting stash - Walnut Stain. It's something that Altered Artists among others
have used. It comes in flacks and can be melted into a liquid by just using hot
water. This was the first time I have used it and it's just a wonderful product
to give you that aged look. I placed a few flakes onto the wet card and rubbed
in. I do this with coffee (another wonderful crafting aging product along with
tea bags - clean ones please lol).

I was very impressed with what it had done to the card and
I'm looking forward to exploring this more over the coming months.

Now all I had to do when the card was dry was in fact to
build up the card. I secured the bottle over the stem, glued the butterfly over
the stamped image and finally after moulding the flower centre to give some
definition, that was glued.

I looked at the card and something was missing ..............

I didn't want a ribbon to go over all the front of the card,
as it was aimed for a Male. So by carefully making a slit into the card I was
able to thread the ribbon through (which had also been treated with the Walnut
Stain), this way it anchored the card.

I don't put a sentiment or a theme on my cards if I can help
it. This way, it's up to you to maybe grab a hint here or a style from there and
bring it into your own crafting and theme of card.

1.Cut a piece
of white card big enough to fit the Bird Diva stamp on. Stamp the bird onto the
centre of the card with black archival ink.

2.Colour
around the image with watercolour pencils. Using the harlequin pattern from the
mini muse set onto the lower edges of the bird card. Edge with black archival.

3.Take 2
pieces of white card. on one of them spritz with cosmic shimmer mists, leave to
dry.On the second piece of card, paint
with the cosmic shimmer paints ~ I’ve used colours that compliment the colours
on the ‘bird’ card. Leave to dry.

5.Take the
piece of card that you painted onto, cut to size... so it fits onto the card
blank with a nice little edge. Firstly, I did think to just mount the bird card
directly onto the painted card, it didn’t look ‘right’ so I decided to use a
few stamps.

6.Using the
StazOn Stone Gray, stamp the script from the ‘Mini Ornates’ set. Then, again with the
Stone Gray, stamp the punchinella stamp from the ‘Bitty Grunge’ set, randomly around
the edge. Lastly, using the flourish from the ‘Artful Flight’ and black
Archival, edge the card with the stamp.

Friday, 27 April 2012

This wonderful stamp is from a
stamp collection by IndigoBlu called Music Hall. Once again it is a set of stamps
that can be combined to make one image or just using 1 or 2 to make a just as
impressive image.

HOW TO MAKE:

Now then, we have to get messy. I
have put down disposable gloves - well I did learn the hard way and even 5 days
later there is a tint to my fingers! So armed with your gloves, lay out
the non stick crafting mat. Using your coloured ink pads, visualise an area of
about A4. Dab onto the mat the different ink pads -try not to overlap as you
don't want to contaminate your pads. When you're happy, take hold of your spray
bottle and just cover the inks with a layer of thin water. You don't want to drown out the
ink hue but just enough that will leave a nice colour onto your water colouring
paper.

Take the misting bottles and just
lay a thin layer of the Glimmer Mists - try not to combine them at this
stage. Now take your paper and lay onto
the ink. Lift up the paper and look at what you have achieved. If there are
white spots, just take the paper and move it about lifting up the ink from the
mat. if you have not covered your paper, just repeat what you
have done. When you're happy place to one
side. Clean up your mat by using scraps
of paper - you don't want to throw anything away. I always keep a few white/tan
tags to one side to use just for this. If you cant wait for the paper to
dry use your heat gun on a low setting. When the paper is ready, using the
Music Script stamp start to lay down some imagery. Use the tap and then stamp
technique. This is the only time you don't have to be careful and get ink all
over the stamp. When you have inked up, stamp onto some scrap paper and then
stamp onto the inked paper. You want to have a light layer and the inked stamp
does not stand out - it's got to melt into the back ground. Place to once side to dry. Taking an oval die or if you have
a die cutting machine cut out an oval and and using good black ink (I'm so impressed
with the Adirondack Pitch Black by Ranger), stamp the image into the centre
of the oval. Then using the Tim Holtz Distress inks you have used for the
watercolour background, just put a hint of colour onto the oval. This is to
tie everything into place. Stark white is sometimes so over powering when it
comes to strong colours - it can make the card unbalanced.

Lets now start to build up the
background of the card. Using the Flourish that's in the set, edge the purple
paper. Again, use the black ink that you're using (try to keep to the same black
all the way through a project. If you look carefully some blacks do not print the
same hue on different papers). Secure onto the card that you
have bought or constructed yourself and carefully trim the edges so that its
flush.

Now it's time to cut out the same
shape as the Multi coloured paper you have made. Just make sure that the black
shape is a bit larger so it can overlap when layered together. Just to give the illusion that
you have used brads, I love the Card Candi embellishments. They just glue into place and give that look
of brads. Lay the black card onto the paper
just off centre height way (you want to leave a space for the lavish ribbon
you're going to use). Using the Card Candi, secure one in each ‘Petal’. Repeat the
same with the paper that you have created. Make sure that you're going to lay the
edge into the ‘dip’ of the black card. Again place the Candi embellishments
into place. You will see that l have turned
the stamped image on to an angle so that the image looks upright.

Then take your ribbon, secure into
place and then make a great big bow - as big as you can make it, its got to be a
focal point and not to hide away.

There you have it. A rather
‘lavish’ looking card that's not cost the earth to make. The ribbon came from
an old ‘prezzy’ that some one received and were going to throw away. That's what gave me my colour
tone. Who would have thought a ribbon and a great set of stamps would lead me
to making this card?

1.Take your card, store card and paints. Scrape the
paints in different ways across thecard, until you are happy with the effect.
Once dry (Eco paints dry super fast) choosethe piece of card you’d like to use
and cut out a 5 inch square.

2.Using the Sepia Archival, use the long ticket on the
‘Going Somewhere’ plate and stamp across the card.

3. Using Staz-on Timber Brown, stamp the punchinella stamp
from the ‘Bitty Grunge’ set around the edge of the card. Then using Staz-on
Stone Grey, stamp the coffee stainsover one edge of the card.

4.Stamp the Balloon stamp onto white card, cut out and
position onto the card and glue in place. Stamp ‘Enjoy the Journey’ sentiment in
Black Archival.

5.Colour the balloon in with watercolours (you may want
to do this before you attach tothe card in case it warps)

Wednesday, 25 April 2012

I set
my self a task when I received this wonderful set of stamps from IndigoBlu
called Wild Meadow. I wanted to use all the stamps in the set on
one project. Now this is something that you can't normally do, as there are what
l call “fillers” in most stamp sets.

Firstly
I constructed my card from the white card stock. As it was a true A4 , I had to
make a folding gusset to construct the card.

Then
using the glue tape runner, I secured the backing paper onto my card front. This
was then stamped over the edges by using the Floral scrolled stamp. (1 down 4
more to go!)

When
it was dry, using the Hougie Board, I made a embossed line approx. half inch
along all the edges. We sometimes forget that we can make a simple decoration
by just making an embossed line along the edge of the card.

Using
the Neenah Classic Crest white card, I started to construct my image. Using the Meadow
base I stamped that image. Then by carefully selecting the densest area, I
stamped the Dandelion stamp. I picked this area so that the lines of the
dandelion wouldn't stick out and not feel part of the same image.

The
butterfly was the last stamp to be used to complete the scene. Using a water
colouring brush, I just dragged the colour into the centre from the stamped
image to give a slight hint of a colour.

I cut
this out and then gutted some Gold Mirror Card (I then used this for the
sentiment stamp!) mounted the image onto the gold card and placed to one side.

The
sentiment was then stamped onto some Neenah Classic Crest white card (YIPPIE!!!!! used all the stamps!). This was
again mounted onto gold mirror card.

Before
I secure all the parts of the card, I like to place them onto my card base and
then play with the placement of each layer. The text in the end was placed on
the edge of the card so that it gave the final images a wider feel. I mounted
the sentiment with some double sided glue pads.

The
ribbon was placed just off centre width wise. This again was to make the final
image feel taller. Its important that you think about placement and you don't
let your main images get lost on your card. Like wise, it's important that you
don't swamp the card with your image. It's a very fine balancing act, that's why
I always play with the final placement before I attack it with my glue runner,
lol.

There
you have it, a card made using all the elements of a stamp set (you can't say
that about a lot of stamp sets!). This image can be taken in one colour tone or you
can get your water colours out and go to town. Just remember, use the right ink
for the medium you're going to use to colour.

Tuesday, 24 April 2012

Keen cooks
can make their own personalised recipe box, with recipes written on index cards
and divided into different groups with decorated index card dividers. Claudine Hellmuth’s Kitchen stamps, mixed with clip art and patterned papers, are
ideal for giving your recipe collection a retro look. I hope she releases a
second set – maybe with kitchen scales, a mixing bowl and measuring spoons.

2. Make a distressed background on white card using your Distress Inks and non-stick craft mat.

3. Take your card blank and using Tattered Rose, colour around the edges. Once dry, stamp with your script stamp and teal StazOn.

4. On your distress background, stamp the Tres Caballeros stamp, then stamp just the hats (if you can). Cut out the Caballeros stamped image out and edge with Cats Eye chalk ink.

5. Your background card blank should be dry by now. Cut a slightly smaller size square out of the rock salt background and attach to the blank. Then attach the distress ink card with the Caballeros on.

1. Make a shaving foam background using green and pink inks. (I will make a tutorial for this type of background but I need some shaving foam!) 2. Cut a tag. 3. Stamp with the StazOn, grey and green, randomly over the tag using the elements from the stamp plate. 4. Stamp the plants from the Natures Wonders set, directly onto the background using Archival black... (the new type of Archival ink needs a quick blast from your heatgun to dry it) 5. Stamp one of the butterflies directly onto the tag, centrally. 6. On a scrap bit of background, stamp the sentiment and the two butterflies. 7. Cut and Edge sentiments and butterflies. 8. Arrange sentiment and glue securely. 9. Attach the butterflies with silicone adhesive 10. Add colour using watercolour pencils, if necessary. 11. Draw around the edge of the sentiment and the tag using a black fineliner pen. 12. Edge with your Cats Eye ink pad Add ribbons to your tag at the top if you like.

* Using your Distress inks and craft mat, make a distressed background. Leave to dry. You can heat dry it if you don’t have any patience (like me!).

* Once dry, cut into a tag shape. I’ve covered a small tag that I found in my stash.

* Stamp the background stamp using coffee Archival Ink, leave to dry or blast with a heat gun.

* Stamp the butterflies onto a piece of your distressed background in black Archival (I did try this in coffee but the butterflies didn’t stand out enough for me). Cut out and attach to the tag, also cut the words out ~ butterflies and moths and attach.

* Edge with brown ink.

* Pour some beeswax into your tea light container (you may have a melt pot, but this is how I do it) and melt with your heat gun. Using an old brush, brush the melted beeswax onto the tag, it hardens very quickly but you can just melt it again with your heat tool, until you are happy with the effect.